Lens & accessory options for Sony FE mount cameras a7 & a7R

[drjlo]

I think I am returning my A7R. I suppose mostly I had to see for myself that the sensor DR advantage really did not make much subjective IQ difference to me (from my 5D III) for the types of photos I tend to take.

I tend to shoot a lot of events, portraits, some landscape, a lot of night/evening walkaround, and I simply did not see enough difference to keep the A7R. The fact Sony has hopeless support for TTL wireless triggers and the speedlite HVL60M overheats also severely hampers my event shooting. The FE55mm is very sharp, but there is no way Sony can come up with a native FE lens collection that comes anywhere close to my current L glass party, especially the T-SE 24mm, 85L, 70-200 f/2.8 II, 24-70 f/2.8 II, etc.

If Sony can come up with a working top-level speedlite (hopefully RT), support wireless TTL triggers, improve AF speed and introduce touchscreen (touch to focus), and improve the EVF (still nowhere as good as OVF IMO), then A7R Mk II may be in consideration.

 

[sdsr]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone in here adapted EF lenses to the A7? Seems like most of the stuff I find is for people adapting them to the 7r.

Also, kind of off topic but figured I would pose the question since there are plenty of Sony adopters in here. The rumors re the successor to the A99 seems very intriguing between the potential IBIS, same big mp sensor, and Z shift. The IBIS and Z Shift seems like they would be completely game changing. The full sized body also wouldn't be a deterrent for me since I wouldn't be looking for a small package as I am more focused on absolute best feature set and IQ regardless of dimensions. Are any of you going to consider the updated body (considering price range, etc)?

I've used the 24-105L, 50mm and 85 1.8 on both bodies and - without doing anything resembling scientific testing - am inclined to conclude that they work equally well, the only difference being what you would expect from the resolution difference. Some have reported worse AF performance on the A7r than the A7 (which might seem intuitive given the different focusing systems of the two bodies), but I didn't notice any difference whether in bright light or dim.

The successor of the A99 does sound appealing, especially because of the IBIS and the wider range of native lenses, but while I once thought body size didn't matter much, I've been spoiled (or corrupted, or whatever it is) by the small size of the A7s and the 35mm/55mm primes, which would presumably need an adapter to use on an A99 (and I would want to as they're probably superior to any A-mount native AF lenses. But won't the successor still not be mirrorless but, instead SLT? That's less appealing as the mechanism diverts light from the sensor and results in worse low light performance than you usually get from FF sensors - or at least that's been the case so far with SLT Alphas. So I'm not so sure. Besides, while I'm so fond of some of my Canon lenses (esp. the 70-300L, which doesn't seem to have a real counterpart in any other system), I'm disinclined to forego a FF Canon body. If only Canon could conjure up an EF mount mirrorless FF body with IBIS....

 

[Rienzphotoz]

I think I am returning my A7R. I suppose mostly I had to see for myself that the sensor DR advantage really did not make much subjective IQ difference to me (from my 5D III) for the types of photos I tend to take.

I tend to shoot a lot of events, portraits, some landscape, a lot of night/evening walkaround, and I simply did not see enough difference to keep the A7R. The fact Sony has hopeless support for TTL wireless triggers and the speedlite HVL60M overheats also severely hampers my event shooting. The FE55mm is very sharp, but there is no way Sony can come up with a native FE lens collection that comes anywhere close to my current L glass party, especially the T-SE 24mm, 85L, 70-200 f/2.8 II, 24-70 f/2.8 II, etc.

If Sony can come up with a working top-level speedlite (hopefully RT), support wireless TTL triggers, improve AF speed and introduce touchscreen (touch to focus), and improve the EVF (still nowhere as good as OVF IMO), then A7R Mk II may be in consideration.

The issues you've raised are some of the reasons why I did not go for a7R, instead I went for the a7 ... I would have got the a7R if there was some good UWA lens with great quality that can beat the EF 16-35 f/2.8 L II ... the ZEISS 24-70 f/4 OSS that I have does not even take full advantage of the 24MP sensor of my a7, so I don't see it taking advantage of the 36MP sensor of the a7R ... also I don't see Sony coming up with any zoom lenses that can take advantage of the 36MP sensor ... but when I bought the a7 I was fully aware that, for now, it would only be a novelty camera (which I can carry around everyday for general walk-around photography) and not something that I could use for any situation ... but the a7 is one camera that is now, always in my office bag along with a Sony HVL-F43M flash (which seems to be a better "fit" on this camera) ... originally I wanted to go for the HVL-60M but gave up the idea after trying it on the a7, it just looked ridiculously huge on this small camera.

 

[drjlo]

Sony HVL-F43M flash (which seems to be a better "fit" on this camera) ... originally I wanted to go for the HVL-60M but gave up the idea after trying it on the a7, it just looked ridiculously huge on this small camera.

Even F43M would be awkward on camera, and I hate that flash-on-camera look. Even with my 5D III, if at all possible, I shoot 580EX II off-camera on gorilla pod/portable stand via either Yongnuo 622 or Canon 90EX (smaller venue) in TTL mode. Looking to do the same with Sony A7R, I was shocked find NO TTL wireless triggers available. I then looked at the smallest Sony flash HVL20M as TTL-trigger, but many other people must be thinking the same because they go for full-price on fleabay. I don't like to miss shots by trying manual wireless triggers, but I tried my Yongnuo RF603 manual trigger on the Sony A7R, but Sony's new "standard" hotshoe really isn't standard and RF603 wouldn't fire.

The strobist limitations along with the effort it takes to move around the flex focus point really didn't let me enjoy the shooting experience, e.g. having to push a button in awkward location to activate the AF point, then using the two stiff dials, one in front of camera and one behind (!), to move point vertically and horizontally really takes away from the joy of shooting and simply too slow to move the AF point. A7R really needs a 4-way joystick like 5D III does.

And it seems like some new "problem" is reported weekly for A7R, e.g. shutter vibration, "light leak," lossy RAW, not really weather-sealed, etc. The lossy sony RAW thing especially bugged me in the back of mind, especially since this kind of thing really shouldn't happen if you are aiming for the semi/professional photography market. It's also something Sony can fix *IF* they wanted to, but they don't seem willing to do so, just like they are not willing to admit to the FVL60M flash overheating problem after 20 shots.

Oh, well, it saves me $3K, which I will save up for the next Canon purchase. All right, Canon, you still got me, with your "poor DR" and all :

 

[Rienzphotoz]

And it seems like some new "problem" is reported weekly for A7R, e.g. shutter vibration, "light leak," lossy RAW, not really weather-sealed, etc. The lossy sony RAW thing especially bugged me in the back of mind, especially since this kind of thing really shouldn't happen if you are aiming for the semi/professional photography market. It's also something Sony can fix *IF* they wanted to, but they don't seem willing to do so, just like they are not willing to admit to the FVL60M flash overheating problem after 20 shots.

According to sonyalpharumors, a firmware update is due for release for the a7/a7R on the 19 March 2014, and they claim that the firmware update will bring "image quality improvement" ... maybe they will fix the RAW issue ... below is the content of that post:

Sony Japan officially announced a new A7 and A7r firmware release for March 19! And these are the improvements (translated from Japanese):

- support for the focus hold button of the new SEL 70-200G lens
- Start up time reduction
- Image quality improvement
- Adds Live view grading and smooth reflection application. Improves “Time Laps” APP.

I am now wondering what they mean with “Improved Image quality”!